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23.02.28
13 Deputy M.B. Andrews of the Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport
and Culture regarding the Marine Sector Support Scheme (OQ.23/2023)
Will the Minister provide an indication of how many fishermen will be supported by the Marine Sector Support Scheme using the allocated budget of £300,000?
Deputy K.F. Morel of St. John , St. Lawrence and Trinity (The Minister for Economic
Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture):
I thank the Deputy for his question. The Marine Support Scheme is intended to provide support for all sea fishing vessels and we believe that is about 40 vessels.
- Deputy M.B. Andrews :
How is the Minister going to ensure that input costs are measured across the sector to ensure that the £300,000 will be sufficient enough to help all of the vessels?
Deputy K.F. Morel :
The new scheme will be modelled on the Rural Support Scheme and it will deliver support via credits converted to grant payments to any qualifying business within the capture fisheries sector. These grant payments will recognise the delivery of public goods and promote professional and sustainable fishing. The scheme is currently under development in close consultation with the Marine Economy Advisory Group, which brings together members of the fishing industry and is due to be launched in May. In that sense it is a pilot scheme for this year but we are designing the scheme with the marine sector together and, as we go through the year, any changes that need to be made to ensure that next year, where we intend to have it within the Government Plan, will mean that the scheme next year will be finetuned to ensure that it is capturing everyone that needs to be captured.
- Deputy S.G. Luce of Grouville and St. Martin :
I hear the Minister saying the scheme will be lodged in May but will the money be made available in May?
Deputy K.F. Morel :
Absolutely. As I understand, that is the case.
- Deputy L.V. Feltham :
I understand that the scheme is under development but could the Minister provide a defined objective for the scheme and outline what the outcomes he anticipates will be from the scheme?
Deputy K.F. Morel :
We know currently that the fleet is suffering from stock shortages, fuel prices, market access costs due to Brexit and so while we are unable to be more definitive at this stage, the design of the scheme is intended to address many of these issues.
- Deputy L.V. Feltham :
Could the Minister outline what he would define as being a success should the scheme be successful?
Deputy K.F. Morel :
As this is going to be a scheme that is ongoing, it is difficult to draw a line and say: “This is a successful scheme” but ultimately the success of the scheme will be measured in the success of the fishing fleet itself, its ongoing ability to work, and hopefully over time it is the intention that we develop it into a much stronger sector than it is today.